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Sat 25 Oct 2025 21.00 CEST
Livin’ the Dream (vacation) 2020
Michael Cook (born 1968) was adopted at birth into a non-Indigenous family. While cut off from the connection to his biological and social Aboriginal heritage, he was fortunate enough to have an adoptive family who embraced his Aboriginality and empowered him to imagine what that might mean for him and for the world he lived in
Individuation (acceptance) 2024–25
Michael’s adoptive mother was a passionate social worker and activist, involved in fighting for Aboriginal rights and environmental causes, including the Fraser Island Defence Organisation. Her passion for social justice and her deep empathy for Aboriginal people inform the foundation of his practice
Majority Rule (memorial) 2014‘
My brother bought me my first camera when I was 14 and my first job was in a one-hour photo lab at 17. I went on to own my own makeover studio in the early 1990s and worked for over 20 years as a wedding photographer. I was trying to get into fashion photography in 2008 when I was offered representation by Andrew Baker, [an] art dealer in Brisbane, after he viewed my first art photography series. I made a promise to Andrew that I would concentrate on art for the next 12 months, and have been creating ever since.’
Mother (pram) 2016
‘The lab I worked in at 17 had a studio and darkroom – this was before the digital era. I spent six years managing the darkroom and my first 15 years shooting weddings with a medium format film camera. I am completely digital now. I went through the transition when digital cameras first became available. However, after years of analogue, my preference is to create digital images that look as close to analogue as possible. I like a more organic appearance to the work, and I’m a perfectionist, so digital takes the guessing out of the process.’
Majority Rule (parliament) 2014‘
I have the best of both worlds, which comes from years of experience in the darkroom. I can see images instantly on the back of the camera, but those years in the darkroom and shooting medium format have taught me how to get a digital picture looking as traditional as possible. My process is usually months thinking of an idea, then once I feel it has the depth required, I step into production. I usually start with backgrounds first, then layer the images like a painter would build up a painting’
Invasion (laser girls) 2017
‘I’m always thinking about my art practice, so any experience I have may spike a visual when I have an idea in mind. An example is that, when I was thinking about the Invasion series, I was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds (1963). I love Hitchcock’s other movies and have been contemplating a series based on Rear Window (1954). I also find inspiration outside the cinema in music clips and magazines’
Invasion (UFO possums)
2017 Cook works in an almost cinematic mode, using the camera as an elaborate choreographic and narrative device, meticulously layering and editing his images from countless shoots on location. The resulting images are quietly virtuosic.
Fake (salt lake) 2023‘
I’m inspired by questions that I consider in terms of my life experience. Early in my career, it was identity that drove some of those series. In the latest projects, I am still questioning life, but it’s more about my identity in modern Western society, and how my conditioning reflects my actions and life choices. I feel that the best art comes with an artist creating work from a driver of emotion or something else they are passionate about. Working through these projects helps me process life in general’
Majority Rule (tunnel) 2014‘
I have had largely the same team since 2008. My retoucher has been with me prior to that. I try and keep the same team of people around me as they know my style and understand and grow my vision along the way. I like to pick models with a soft openness and I believe that their personalities shine through the images. Some of my collectors meet Joey (my main model and a long term friend from childhood) after buying my work. When they meet him in person, so many of them have said to me: “He’s exactly who I thought he would be.”’
Individuation (persona)
2024–25‘The pre production phase is just planning – that is the easy part. The hardest part is earlier, when creating an idea, something significant enough to place into production. Some of my projects have had quite high costs – with models, sets and travel – so I need to be certain before I start to plan the production of a shoot’
Fake (welcome sign) 2023‘
Creating thought-provoking work comes from my idea of depth. My job is to ask questions, to provoke thought, to change peoples’ perspectives or to get an audience to think about a situation, why it is what it is’
Individuation (energy) 2024–25
Cook invites us on a kaleidoscopic trip through Indigenous parliamentary takeovers, luxury European shopping sprees, autobiographic asides, and colonial inversions – where Aboriginal characters assume the role of alien invaders and supersized Australian wildlife wreak havoc upon iconic London streets.
Mother (see saw) 2016‘
I often talk about the past to describe how and why something is the way it is in the present. I also create imagery with openness, softness and beauty – so that the viewer spends time within the imagery. I want to provoke thought around a subject and, if I can create an idea for an audience to consider, or to stimulate their emotions, then I have been successful in terms of what I set out to do’Explore more on these topics
